Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock are located in the Haram Al Sharif compound in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has long urged Muslims to visit Al Aqsa to show solidarity with the Palestinians.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu barred ministers and legislators from entering the compound in October 2015 and only a handful of exceptions have been allowed since then.

The ban was meant to help calm unrest that had erupted in part over Palestinian fears that Israel was planning to assert further control over the compound.

Israel seized Palestinian east Jerusalem from Jordan during the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it. The move was never recognised by the international community but Israel declared the city its undivided capital.

The Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.